Tabletop, PC/Mac/Linux •
There’s something very cool happening over at Victory Point Games. For years they were known as a company that made interesting games with components that weren’t very interesting, but not anymore. Over the past 2-3 years they’ve started to reprint second and third editions of games and upping their component game. Thus, we’ve seen gems such as Nemo’s War, Dawn of the Zeds, Healthy Heart Hospital, and Darkest Night all reappear with shiny new versions, begging for gamers who had poo-pooed VPG in the past to love them. It’s not hard to do, they’re all fantastic.
The latest reimagining is another title I hadn’t heard of called Gem Rush. Not only is the shiny new 2nd edition currently on Kickstarter, but they’ve also announced that a digital version is on its way to Steam for PC/Mac/Linux.
While I hadn’t heard of Gem Rush before I was alerted to its Kickstarter, I was familiar with the designer, Jeremy Lennert. He’s the brains behind one of the best cooperative/adventure games I’ve ever played, the aforementioned Darkest Night. Thus, I backed the Kickstarter without knowing much more about the game.
Gem Rush: Second Edition is a perfectly cut, highly polished new version of this treasured title. Designed by Jeremy (Darkest Night) Lennert, each player is an industrious dwarf working in a magical gem mine on a quest for dwarven glory, racing to build the mine, discover its secrets, and strategize using its evolving layout!!
- Vastly improved component quality over the First Edition with bright new graphics facelift for the rooms, gems, characters, skills, and even the rulebook.
- Play alongside your friends in Cooperative Mode, or see who the best dwarf is in Competitive Mode.
- New magical gems including Echoglass, Orichalcum, and Warpstone — each with properties that impact a sagacious player’s strategy.
- Player Skill cards so each dwarf wields an individual special ability which helps them compete. Includes dwarven poetry!
There, I still don’t really know how the game plays, but I backed it anyway! That’s pretty much my fault as the rulebook is readily available on the Kickstarter page and there are videos galore all over the internet (see below) if I wanted to see how it all works. For now, I’m just happy following my prodigious gut and backing a game from a company and designer whose work I already enjoy. Plus, the game plays solo, which is always a plus and will get me to back your Kickstarter almost without fail.
Backers also receive the upcoming Steam version of Gem Rush as part of their pledge, so, considering that the only thing I love more than board games are digital board games, backing was a no brainer. In fact, this week I received an “in-development” early build of Gem Rush for Mac and, while I have no idea what the hell is going on, I have to say it’s mighty pretty and the mine-building aspect of it should be right up my alley. The digital version is still in its infancy, so online matches have been disabled, but online is a thing that will be included when it launches later this year. Will it be asynchronous? I have no idea, but will make sure to let you know once online multiplayer is added.
So, if you’re at all interested in the new wave of high-component-quality games coming from VPG, go give the Gem Rush: Second Edition kickstarter a look. There are nine days left and it’s already funded, so there’s no real risk (I’ve backed several VPG Kickstarters and all have come promptly and the games have all been excellent). Also, this isn’t like some Kickstarters that require a second mortgage if you want everything on the page ***cough***Cool Mini or Not***cough***, $30 gets you all stretch goals and the digital version as well.
Has anyone tried this on iOS yet? It doesn’t even have any ratings in the App Store.
That looks great!
Saw it released but was leery of purchasing without a review or others to play with.
Ok, keep in mind a couple of things:
With those caveats, this app is astonishingly polished and slick. The tutorial is among the best I’ve seen. The music is pleasant but repetitive (it has a separate slider). Looks great. UI is intuitive and easy to use (I particularly like the inclusion of the button to turn off UI elements, which makes it easy to view the board at any time). There are over 50 achievements for those into that. I do not see a high score list or any stat tracking.
Not going to review the game here, as I don’t know it well enough, but this seems exactly like the sort of game I like, with lots of simple yet interesting decisions to make on a moment to moment basis. For those completely unfamiliar it is a tile-laying exploration game of sorts, where you open paths to new rooms, scoring vp in the process. The rooms (and players) have special powers that mostly give you different ways to get cards or score points. It has solitaire play and both competitive and co-op modes for up to 7.
It seems rather shocking to me that something that seems so well made has received virtually zero attention.
Also zero marketing, as far as I can tell.
Thanks for the quick synopsis. I’ll be buying some new games in a few weeks for a trip I’m taking and this one will likely make the list.
I kickstarted the physical version and was kind of waiting for that to show up before I jumped into the digital version. Of course, the physical version came sometime in October or November and I just forgot to go pick this up. I’ll take a look and see about getting a write-up done this week.
And the worst possible disposable app store trash name they could have picked.
Lol, that, too. I saw it listed in the board game section of the App Store and had to do some research to find that it is, indeed, an actual board game.
That is…fair.
@Neumannium I’m really tempted to pick up the physical version, even though I’m not likely to play it any time soon.